Adulterous Wives In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

The male storytellers within the Canterbury Tales’ have resorted to coping with their adulterous wives in ways that give insight to their psychological complexity. The first story alluding to the unfaithful wives is by the Miller. In his story, he makes a joke of adultery and is more concerned with silliness and absurdity of the story than the fact the wife was cheating. His middle school humor is out of place when compared to the Host’s original description, yet it duly distracts him from his wife’s faults. Similarly, the Reeve’s wife is committing adultery, yet he copes contrastingly to the Miller’s almost sarcastic outlook. He is instead angry and lashes out at others in the party, especially the Miller. “‘Do evil and be done by as you did’…Thus